A soap opera which has not yet delivered all its revelations. According to AFP this Friday, January 17, which confirms the information from BFM TV, François Vérove, known as “le Grêlé”, is suspected by the serial or unsolved crimes unit of Nanterre of a new murder which was allegedly committed in 1990 in the woods of Saint-Aubin, in Essonne. “A man was then found tied to a tree, with a bullet behind his head”writes the media which specifies that at the time, “the woods of Saint-Aubin were a known meeting place for delinquents and exhibitionists”.
According to investigators, Le Grêlé – a nickname given to the murderer after the brother of a murdered girl had described him with grainy skin –, a former gendarme and police officer, may have been in possession of ammunition of the type found on the place of the murder. Several other clues lead to the serial killer, such as the use of a rope knot to neutralize the victim or the purchase of a video recorder with a checkbook stolen from this same victim and presenting a tricolor card, similar to that gendarmes and police officers.
Over the decades, the Grêlé affair has evolved into cold case. After years of crimes without ever being caught, François Vérove was finally caught in 2021, ending thirty-five years of questions in a final dramatic twist. Summoned as part of the case to take a DNA sample, the 59-year-old retiree committed suicide, leaving behind a confession letter, a wife and two children. His body was found on September 29, 2021 in an apartment rented on Airbnb in Grau-du-Roi, in the Gard.
